How to Eat an Elephant

Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:32-33 ESV)

Dealing with the challenges of life and the discouragement that comes with those circumstances may seem like an impossible task; it may appear to be like trying to eat an elephant! However, there is a way to eat an elephant. The old proverb says we can do it “one bite at a time. Life is full of failures, rejection and more than a fair share of discouragement. Jesus tells us to “take heart for He has overcome the world.” He is instilling in us a positive thought cycle. Quickly correcting the negative thought cycle before it gets out of hand is critical to ensure you can rebound. So, let me be practical with a few suggestions to take one bite at a time. First, when you are in the midst of the trial, don’t analyze. The time to analyze what has just happened is never when you are in a negative state. Rational judgment gets corrupted by emotion very easily, so what seems like a logical flow of thought is completely ridiculous from an outside perspective. Take a break from your logic and analysis. Second, create an immediate success. By creating a tiny, even superficial, success you can balance out the negative feelings associated with your discouragement. I usually go out to the shop and build something. Even something small makes me feel better. Once you feel positive and stable about your self-image and you can look back at the discouraging event from an emotionally neutral standpoint should you try to analyze what went wrong and how to improve it for next time. Analysis and review is important but it is completely worthless if it just another means for self-pity and negative thoughts. Third, reward the attempt. Whenever you make strides outside your comfort zone and past barriers you need to reward yourself regardless of whether the external environment does so. Whenever you take steps outside your past limitations, either in conquering your fears, improving your skills or increasing your own willpower you must recognize and reward that victory even if the rest of the world won’t. Fourth, persevere. Above all these other strategies the most important thing in improving your ability to handle disappointment and discouragement is to keep going. God has not forgotten us. His promise is to work it all to our good. Keep moving to that end. How you handle that discouragement will ultimately make the difference between a life of broken dreams and misery and one filled with hope and joy. Choose the latter. Go ahead take a bite. The elephant is not as big as you may think!